Ali G made a surprise appearance at the Oscars on Sunday night and waded into the race debate in his own unique way.

Sacha Baron Cohen brought his most famous character out of retirement for the Academy Awards where he co-presented alongside actress Olivia Wilde to stoke up some controversy.

Ali G hits the stage with Olivia Wilde (Image: Getty)

After arriving on stage the comedian referred to himself as "just another token black presenter," before wading into the ongoing race row: "How come there is no Oscar for them really hard working tiny yellow people with no dongs? You know, minions."

The comedian referred to himself as a 'token black presenter' (Image: Getty)

"But I is here representing all those who've been overlooked," the comedian continued.

Ali G went down better with the audience than Stacey Dash's attempts at humour did, but things got a little frosty on the red carpet before the show.

E! News' Ryan Seacrest refused to interview the actor, who was not in character as he arrived at the bash with wife Ilsa Fisher, after the stunt he pulled a few years ago on the Oscars red carpet.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher (Image: Getty)

In 2012 the British actor attended the Oscars dressed as his Colonel Gaddafi-style character from film The Dictator and spilt ashes on the Hollywood presenter, which he claimed belonged to former North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un.

Ryan Seacrest and Sacha on the red carpet in 2012 (Image: E!)

Ali G's comments were a bit tame in comparison to what host Chris Rock had to say. The comedian left Hollywood A-listers squirming in their seats as he highlighted the clear racism in the movie industry.

He then insisted it was hard to worry about who was winning what at the Oscars, “when your grandmother is swinging from a tree”.

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The hard-hitting quips left viewers squirming, but he peppered the ruthless jibes with funny quips.

The reason he didn’t quit was because he didn’t want to lose another job: “Last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart,” he joked.

Chris Rock spoke out over race row (Image: Reuters)

Gotham star Jada Pinkett Smith, who led the call for a boycott of the Oscars over the race row after her husband Will Smith missed out on a nomination for his role in Concussion, found herself at the centre of Rock’s brutal jibes.

“Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties,” he joked, to the laughs of the audience.

His message then turned political, focusing on the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

"This year, the In Memoriam package is just going to be black people who were shot by cops on their way to the movies."

The 2016 Oscars has been full of contention (Image: Reuters)

The comic addressed the #OscarSoWhite controversy head on, taking dig after dig at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Hollywood's diversity crisis in his monologue.

The Academy nominated only white men and women for the second year in a row in the 20 acting categories, leading several A-listers, including Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee, to sit out the ceremony in protest.

He continued to give examples of what’s not fair and why people of colour were missed out of the nominations at the Academy Awards, and then joked: “It’s not fair that Will (Smith) got paid $25 million for Wild, Wild West.”